Articles for February, 2009
Another Open Letter to James Ragland
Dear James Ragland:
I sincerely hope it doesn’t feel like I’m harping on you. But after reading your column this morning, in which you argue that Six Flags shouldn’t sell beer, I felt compelled to share some thoughts with you.
My first thought is that I just made a beer pun. Harp? Beer sales? But that’s beside the point.
The point is, your argument against beer sales at Six Flags is a lousy one. First, you say they shouldn’t sell beer because people are “worried about patrons getting drunk, getting on a roller coaster, and throwing up on rides and spectators alike.” When a Six Flags spokeswoman points out that you don’t see that happening very often at other parks that sell beer, you say, “In this case, stats don’t mean much: once is too often if you’re on the wrong end.”
Change Has Come—To dmagazine.com
Yes. Finally. The mystery is no more. As many of you guessed, we’re relaunching our website starting—now. (Though, depending on your service provider, the new site rollout might happen later tonight, or tomorrow, but, by golly, let’s hope by Monday.) dmagazine.com and all of the blogs that call it home—Hey! Like this one!—have a new look and scads of new features. More on that later.
But first, to those among you who are underwhelmed by the Big News that D executive editor Tim Rogers has been promising all week: know that Tim Rogers does not have cable television. He’s easily impressed by all matters technological.
Now, for more on the relaunch, let’s jump like we used to …
Big Bank Gives Generously, Covers It Up
If there isn’t just a little populist anger over the bailouts, why are banks that accepted TARP dough running scared from public opinion? Recently, a local charitable organization held its annual big deal and, in the program, broke with tradition by listing a major sponsor simply as “anonymous.” The unnamed sponsor, turns out, was one of those TARP-accepting mega-banks, apparently afraid of appearing too loose with its jing.
Friday Afternoon Random Question: Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
If you couldn’t change everything, but you could change one thing, what would it be?
(I’ve got my eye on you Goethe Rous; watch your mouth.)
Kambula the Gorilla, R.I.P.
Kambula, 32, one of the three Western lowland gorillas at the Fort Worth Zoo, was euthanized yesterday after battling abdominal abscesses and heart problems.
Cue it, and pour one out.
Where Eric Was Last Night
ZOMG! Jonas Brothers!!!1! WOOOOOOOO!!!1!!
A Dallas ‘Tea Party’ Rages Against The Machine
This rant by CNBC’s Rick Santelli against big-government spending got things started. Then the outfit called Top Conservatives on Twitter took up the call and, within days, “Tea Parties” were organized in a number of cities protesting federal bailout schemes–including today in Dallas. Here are some of an estimated 250 who gathered at Victory Plaza to dunk the “stimulus bill” in a tank of tea, page by page. Said an organizer: “We’re just people who don’t want our kids and grandchildren shackled with thousands of dollars of debt each.” Oh, hell, folks, why not? It’s only money!
Staubach ‘Pained’ Writing Cowboys Check
While the poor economy was on everybody’s minds at yesterday’s media bash for the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee in Fort Worth, early signs for the February 2011 game are encouraging. Committee President and CEO Bill Lively says no fewer than nine outfits have ponied up for $1 million “founding” sponsorships so far, including Fluor, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Hillwood Development. Even so, committee chairman Roger Staubach couldn’t ignore the downturn’s pinch, recalling how he’d recently written a “big check” for his swanky digs at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington. “It was painful,” he joked onstage at the Fort Worth Club. Sitting nearby, ‘Boys owner Jerry Jones said that he would frame the check. “Does that mean,” Roger shot back, “that you won’t cash it?!”
Friday Fun: Cursor*10 (Part Two)
I do not expect many people to remember Cursor*10 Part One, but no matter. Cursor*10 Part Two is a fun Flash game regardless. Simple, too. Move the cursor up the stairs. Watch out for traps and obstacles. Hurry, hurry. Have fun.
At Some Point Today, Everything Changes
That whole Casey Thompson thing yesterday (270 comments and counting) taxed our servers and set us back a bit. But at some point today, some stuff is going to happen that will freakin’ blow your mind.
Bushes to Decherd: “What Do We Gotta Do to Get a Paper Around Here?”
The eleventy-billionth FrontBurnervian points us to this story in People about the Bushes settling into their house. They don’t have much furniture. They’re having to borrow chairs from the Secret Service. And it seems they can’t get the Dallas Morning News delivered. Awesome.
Update: Jim Moroney says they have been delivering — to the police guards stationed at Daria Place, since that’s as close as you can get to the house. Even more awesome.
Leading Off (2/27/09): Jay Leno Edition
1. Governor Rick Perry’s peeps have been fishing around Dallas City Hall for negative information on Kay Bailey Hutchison’s husband, Ray, a local bond attorney. Most damaging thing found so far: he’s an attorney.
2. Jacquielynn Floyd reverses her position and is now in favor of banning the sale and breeding of pit bulls. That’s intense, huh? I mean, when’s the last time you heard of a woman not in favor of a sale on anything?
3. A Spanish company, Cintra, has won the right to reconstruct LBJ Freeway … or, as it’s known around their office, El LBJ Freeway. Hi-yo!
Leading Off: The Late Night/Early Morning Edition
Yow. Zah. I am editing some of the vile and vulgar remarks made on SideDish in response to post about chef Casey Thompson’s contoversial reaction to Wednesday night’s Top Chef show. As I was working, I received some disturbing news about the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. Doesn’t anyone sleep anymore?
Technical Difficulties on FrontBurner
Apologies to all who’ve been frustrated with our downed site. Our server couldn’t handle all the traffic from across the country generated by Sarah’s post on SideDish about Casey Thompson.
Fox4 In No Hurry To Replace Star Co-Host
Don’t expect Fox4 to replace Megan Henderson (pictured) as star co-host of the Good Day morning show right away. Station honchos say they’re content to let a series of co-anchor types, including Dan Godwin, sit in beside program stalwart Tim Ryan after tomorrow, Henderson’s last day before departing for L.A.’s KTLA-TV. That will give KDFW time to cast a wide net for someone “with her own unique style”–not a Megan clone.
Hot Casey Thompson Has Hot Opinions About Tepid Top Chef
Sarah Eveans has it all ready for you to read with your eyes right … here.
Former Ranger Rick Helling: “The Man Who Warned Baseball About Steroids”
That’s the headline of this piece from Time. When did he do it? More than a decade ago, just after the Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa home-run-record chase that reenergized the game.
Rick Helling, a 27-year-old righthanded pitcher and the players’ representative for the Texas Rangers, stood up at the winter meeting of the Executive Board of the Major League Baseball Players Association and made an announcement. He told his fellow union leaders that steroid use by ballplayers had grown rampant and was corrupting the game.
“There is this problem with steroids,” Helling told them. “It’s happening. It’s real. And it’s so prevalent that guys who aren’t doing it are feeling pressure to do it because they’re falling behind. It’s not a level playing field. We’ve got to figure out a way to address it.
“He was the first guy,” David Cone says later in the piece, “who had the guts to stand up at a union meeting and say that in front of everybody and put pressure on it.”
Okay, no more sports for awhile.
(Hat tip)
How Josh Howard’s Play and Global Warming are Similar
Rob Mahoney from The Two Man Game has a great take on Josh Howard’s career — and his recent, Darrell Armstrong-aided resurgence — this morning. A snippet:
It’s strange that Howard’s rise and fall are due to events that have very little to do with basketball: his own reputation, deaths to those closest to him, the distancing of a good friend, and reuniting with an old mentor. Upon further inspection, though, should it really surprise us that an emotional, sensitive, and aware player is so affected by events outside his control?
Who Else Is Betting The Casino Law Will Pass
Last week, in his conference call with analysts, Robert Decherd announced that plans to sell Belo’s real estate were “on hold.” Now we know why.
You Read It Here First: The Recovery Begins By The End Of This Year
Of course, if it doesn’t, you’ll probably forget you read it here anyway. Anyway, executives at a disparate combination of industries that I’ve been watching lately (Colliers International, Fluor and RadioShack) have all expressed varying degrees of optimism that things might turn around by year’s end, or have turned around, as far as they’re concerned. Jump for more. (more…)
On Friday, Everything Changes
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O.C. Cyclists Gear Up For Today’s Luncheon
Jason Roberts passes along word that City Councilmember Angela Hunt will address the Oak Cliff Chamber Luncheon today to discuss bike lane plans for Dallas. Also present and part of the discussion: Alan McDonald to talk about the trolley and Shelly White to talk about trails near the Trinity. More info here.
GameStop: Selling to the Ladies is Tricky
Did you know women only want to play video games that teach them how to cook and dance? And that they’ll do anything to get their hands on a free subscription to Good Housekeeping? I just learned that myself. Thanks to this GameStop training video on selling to women, I’ve been enlightened.
I initially thought this video was a fake, but it turns out that the Grapevine-based company’s “Sharpen the Mind, Shape the Body” promotion is the real thing, so who can say? I get that it’s sarcasm, but behind the jokes are a lot of outmoded ideas. Here’s a thought: Hire more women to work in the stores, and let the menfolk learn by example. (H/T: Consumerist)
Why Jim Schutze Is Still the Best City Columnist in Dallas
Well, first, because he looks great in Billy Reid. But, more import, because he does work like this. I remember, in the wake of Senior Cpl. Norman Smith’s death, reading this news account of the apartment complex in which Smith was shot and reading this editorial in the News. And I remember thinking that the apartment’s owner, Alex Stolarski, must be a real slumlord scumbag. Taken together, the news story and the editorial pretty much laid the blame for Smith’s death at Stolarski’s feet.
Jim Schutze this week shows what an injustice was done to Stolarski by the News. Let’s just start with the fact that Schutze found out that the crime rate in Stolarski’s apartment is one-third what it is in surrounding complexes. There’s much more.
If you read the News stories when they were published, you owe it to yourself to read Schutze’s column. And you owe it to Stolarski.
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